046-En-2017-05-Authoritarian-Regimes-v1

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Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Our Mission: To empower Canadians to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East Position paper No. 46 Issued May 2017 Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Position Paper: Canada’s Response to Middle Eastern Authoritarian Regimes A. Canada should not engage with any “regime change” initiatives launched by its allies. A topic worthy of extended discussion, “regime change” initiatives launched by the West have had disastrous results around the world, especially in recent years. As a result, the Middle East is now home to several failed or near-failed states which were selected by the West for regime change, e.g. Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. Canada should refrain from any other such initiatives. B. As per Canada’s existing export controls, and the international Arms Trade Treaty, Canada must cease all arms exports to countries which grossly violate international law , e.g. which torture, incarcerate without reason, deny fair trials, use armed violence against civilians, etc. Canada’s arms exports to such countries simply deepen the oppression which such authoritarian governments can exercise. C. Canada must work with allies and use free trade levers to pressure authoritarian regimes to respect human rights , especially in regards to freedom of expression, political prisoners, foreign workers, and state intimidation of political opponents. Without the threat of repercussions, many Middle Eastern regimes will not consider human rights reforms. D. Target authoritarian Middle East regimes with engagement policies encouraging participatory decision-making and civil liberties 1. Adopt an impartial framework to assess the level of democratic representation and civil liberties in Middle East countries . The robustness of these particular aspects of democracy should be evaluated: i. Citizen participation and the rights, the freedoms and the means to participate. ii. Authorization of public representatives , through free and fair electoral choices, in a manner that produces a legislature which fairly represents the diversity of public opinion. iii. Public institutions socially representative of the citizenry as a whole , resulting from treating different groups of citizens even-handedly, according to their numbers. iv. Accountability of all public officials both to the public directly and through mediating institutions. v. Transparency. Government responsiveness to requests for information and disclosure. vi. Public responsiveness, through a civil society which is encouraged to articulate needs. A healthy civil society should include independent trade unions, human rights groups, etc. vii. Solidarity with vulnerable segments of the population at home and grassroots struggles for democracy abroad . Canada should encourage social solidarity within Middle East countries, and penalize cross-border interventions to crush popular protests (e.g. the Saudi incursion in Bahrain). 2. Identify highly authoritarian regimes , based on detailed assessments using the above-described impartial framework. High priorities for such an assessment would include the following countries: Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. 3. Develop a strategy to define if and how Canada engages with authoritarian Middle East regimes : i. Establish clear criteria for Canadian corporate activity that ensure such activity benefits average citizens, does not limit their future economic options, is not environmentally unsustainable, and does not enable human rights violations or benefit from them. For example, Canadian companies should not be engaged in construction of prisons in Middle East countries engaging in arbitrary detentions and torture (e.g. SNC Lavalin’s building under Gaddafi’s rule of a massive prison in Libya). ii. Respect emerging democracies’ right to implement economic policies which meet their citizens’ needs . These include the following: a. The right to limit resource extraction; Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Our Mission: To empower Canadians to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East b. The right to impose performance requirements on foreign companies and to filter foreign investment; c. The right to establish government procurement policies; d. The right to reject labour “flexibilization” policies, which erodes labour organization efforts; e. The right to reject export-oriented industrial and agriculture-food policies. iii. Provide debt relief, aid and better access to the Canadian market for Middle East producers , conditional on greater democratic representation and greater respect for human rights. E. Saudi Arabia: Canada must entirely rethink its relationship with Saudi Arabia. 1. Canada must pressure Saudi Arabia to immediately end its military adventure in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is the lead actor in a war which has had a terrible toll on civilians. 2. Canada must pressure Saudi Arabia to stop exporting Wahhabism. Despite what some argue, Saudi Arabia is not a “source of stability” in the Middle East. Rather, it is an authoritarian monarchy which has funded the spread of Wabbism – an extremist Islamic theological interpretation – for decades. 3. Canada must stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia. In addition to stopping the sale of light armoured vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia, Canada should halt all other arms sales to the Kingdom. As described in other documents issued by CJPME, Canada’s arms deal of $15 billion with the Saudis defies the word and the intent of Canada’s existing export controls. Saudi Arabia has demonstrated that it is very willing to use armed force against its own civilians, and as such, Canada should stop the sale of the LAVs and all other arms to Saudi Arabia. 4. Canada must oppose Saudi roles in the UN which defy all reason. Saudi Arabia was recently elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women; it already sits on the UN Human Rights Council. These elections depend on supporting votes by Western nations. Canada must stop bartering votes at the UN, and instead must vote on principles. F. Egypt: Reconsider Canada’s current diplomatic and trade relations. In its 2015-16 summary of the El-Sisi government, Amnesty International was scathing. 1 Canada cannot proceed with “business as usual” with the El-Sisi regime. 1. Pressure the El-Sisi government to release all political prisoners and to cease unfair trials : In 2015, Egypt arrested almost 12,000 members of “terrorist groups” on top of 22,000 arrested in 2014. At the end of 2015, 700 people had been in detention for more than two years without being sentenced. 3,000 Egyptian civilians were tried before unfair military courts on “terrorism” and related charges alleging political violence. Many, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, were tried in mass trials. 2. Promptly condemn both state-sponsored human rights abuses and acts of terrorism committed by militant groups : Canada should impartially condemn all abuses, irrespective of the perpetrator or the victims’ alleged allegiances. 3. Pressure the El-Sisi to organize elections . Insist that all political currents be allowed to exercise freedom of association and expression and to organize openly without fear of arrest or other penalties. 1 “Amnesty International reported, “The [Egyptian] authorities arbitrarily restricted the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, enacted a draconian new anti-terrorism law, and arrested and imprisoned government critics and political opposition leaders and activists, subjecting some to enforced disappearance. The security forces used excessive force against protesters, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Detainees faced torture and other ill-treatment. Courts handed down hundreds of death sentences and lengthy prison sentences after grossly unfair mass trials. There was a critical lack of accountability; most human rights violations were committed with impunity. Women and members of religious minorities were subject to discrimination and inadequately protected against violence. People were arrested and tried on charges of “debauchery” for their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The army forcibly evicted communities from their homes along the border with Gaza. Executions were carried out following grossly unfair trials.” “Egypt 2015/2016,” Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/egypt/report-egypt/ accessed April 13, 2016 bt relief, aid and better access to the Canadian market for Middle East producers , conditional on greater democratic representation and greater respect for human rights. E. Saudi Arabia: Canada must entirely rethink its relationship with Saudi Arabia. 1. Canada must pressure Saudi Arabia to immediately end its military adventure in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is the lead actor in a war which has had a terrible toll on civilians. 2. Canada must pressure Saudi Arabia to stop exporting Wahhabism. Despite what some argue, Saudi Arabia is not a “source of stability” in the Middle East. Rather, it is an authoritarian monarchy which has funded the spread of Wabbism – an extremist Islamic theological interpretation – for decades. 3. Canada must stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia. In addition to stopping the sale of light armoured vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia, Canada should halt all other arms sales to the Kingdom. As described in other documents issued by CJPME, Canada’s arms deal of $15 billion with the Saudis defies the word and the intent of Canada’s existing export controls. Saudi Arabia has demonstrated that it is very willing to use armed force against its own civilians, and as such, Canada should stop the sale of the LAVs and all other arms to Saudi Arabia. 4. Canada must oppose Saudi roles in the UN which defy all reason. Saudi Arabia was recently elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women; it already sits on the UN Human Rights Council. These elections depend on supporting votes by Western nations. Canada must stop bartering votes at the UN, and instead must vote on principles. F. Egypt: Reconsider Canada’s current diplomatic and trade relations. In its 2015-16 summary of the El-Sisi government, Amnesty International was scathing. 1 Canada cannot proceed with “business as usual” with the El-Sisi regime. 1. Pressure the El-Sisi government to release all political prisoners and to cease unfair trials : In 2015, Egypt arrested almost 12,000 members of “terrorist groups” on top of 22,000 arrested in 2014. At the end of 2015, 700 people had been in detention for more than two years without being sentenced. 3,000 Egyptian civilians were tried before unfair military courts on “terrorism” and related charges alleging political violence. Many, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, were tried in mass trials. 2. Promptly condemn both state-sponsored human rights abuses and acts of terrorism committed by militant groups : Canada should impartially condemn all abuses, irrespective of the perpetrator or the victims’ alleged allegiances. 3. Pressure the El-Sisi to organize elections . Insist that all political currents be allowed to exercise freedom of association and expression and to organize openly without fear of arrest or other penalties. 1 “Amnesty International reported, “The [Egyptian] authorities arbitrarily restricted the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, enacted a draconian new anti-terrorism law, and arrested and imprisoned government critics and political opposition leaders and activists, subjecting some to enforced disappearance. The security forces used excessive force against protesters, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Detainees faced torture and other ill-treatment. Courts handed down hundreds of death sentences and lengthy prison sentences after grossly unfair mass trials. There was a critical lack of accountability; most human rights violations were committed with impunity. Women and membe